Change
by Penny-Writer-09
Summary: Naruto leaves Konoha after not being able to bring Sasuke back...  First all English story, please comment! I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!
1. Failure

Hi there! So I had this weird idea of Naruto being an 'Onii-san' and Sasuke being a handsome badass. So- just the usual thoughts of a freaky writer ^^

I hope you like it! The beginning will be a bit sad, though…

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

Prologue: Failure

He felt cold raindrops piercing through his skin like some senbon-needles. Poking his still tensed muscles and waking him up again. His whole body hurt, like it was on fire… What it actually was...some minutes ago as he was fighting Sasu-

SASUKE!

He tried to pick himself up from the mud, but had to lean back again as black points appeared in front of his eyes. Naruto's sense of balance was thrown off, like that of a drunk. What the heck happened?

He remembered Sakura begging him to bring Sasuke back to the village. He remembered Sasuke and him speaking about family, about going back to Konoha. He remembered them fighting!

Naruto hoped it was a dream. Slowly his hand went up to his chest. He felt it. Sasuke really pushed his Chidori through him, leaving a little scar close to his heart. He really wanted to kill him. Get rid of him like some-

Naruto shook his head, even though it made him flinch in pain. It wasn't good to think about something like that. It would only cause him more grief.

Slowly, and really carefully, Naruto opened his eyes again just to see a bunch of gray clouds crying down on him. He sat up again, but not as fast as before, and started to stretch his muscles slightly. The sound of dropping water grew fainter and the raining slowly stopped.

Naruto watched his surroundings- a lot of rocks and destroyed trees were scattered around him and some craters changed the landscape completely. Where there was once a huge waterfall, now- there was a gigantic lake. The statues of the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha weouldn't be able to be recognized ever again and the little forest nearby was half cut down.

Carefully, to not cause him any more pain than necessary, Naruto got back on his feet.

_Cling!_

He looked down- just to see a headband lying upside down in front of him. It couldn't be his own. Naruto's was still tied up on his forehead. So it could only be… Sasuke's?

Slowly he picked it up and turned it around just to see the Konoha symbol with a vertical line cutting through it. Showing that it belonged to a missing-nin.

"Naruto."

He turned around to see his sensei, Kakashi, who was panting heavily- his ninken Pakkun sitting next to him with concern in his eyes.

"Where's Sasuke?"

Naruto just looked down. How could he tell his sensei that he could not stop Sasuke, when Sakura, Choji, Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru, Bushy Eyebrows- heck, even Akamaru believed in him getting Sasuke back? How could he let them all down? He should have done better!

"Gone," said Naruto simply without looking up "I could not stop him… I was- I WAS TO WEAK!"

He clenched his fists and felt blood running from where his nails and even the headband cut into his skin. Slowly he looked up and saw Kakashi's calm but sorrowful face. He shook his head and looked back to Sasuke's old headband. Even though he felt pretty weak, the pain started to leave and Kyuubi was already beginning to heal his non-critical wounds.

"It wasn't your fault Naruto," said Kakashi and stepped forward "Let's return to the village. As far as I am informed, Neji and Choji could still die from their wounds."

Naruto grew concern for both of them and just nodded. The longer they stayed away, the more people would believe them to be fatally wounded as well. He should not cause any more worries than necessary.

Kakashi nodded to Pakkun and the ninken vanished with a "Bye pup." Then he went over to Naruto and tried to help him jump through the trees, but Naruto just turned away.

He did not want anybody near him. He did not want Kakashi to see the grief in his eyes. He did not want him or anybody else to tell him that it wasn't his fault. Because it just was. He could have pumped more chakra in his last attack. His Rasengan was far from being as strong as he trained it, but he wasn't willing to hurt Sasuke.

The moment he had realized, he could add more chakra in his Rasengan, he felt scared about accidentally killing Sasuke. But at least that leftover chakra seemed to have mixed with Kyuubi's again, to heal his wounds. He wasn't sure if Sasuke's juin would have done the same to him. What would have happened?

As Naruto thought about all these different possibilities, he failed to notice the medic-nins who caught up with Kakashi, asking him if Naruto was all right. They were still scared of the so called 'demon brat' and felt a lot safer behind him, next to a jonin.

Even thought all of them were tired, they reached Konoha by the early morning. As Kakashi spoke with the two chunin at the southern gate, Naruto just slipped through the so called 'village security' and hurried to the hospital- ignoring all the heinous looks he received.

He nearly jumped through the door by entering the hospital and just took off to the reception, where a blond medic-nin sat. She gave him a disapproving look before signing some papers.

"I need to know where Choji Akimichi and Neji Hyuuga are." Naruto told her, while trying to stay as calm as possible.

"Then I need your name." she just said with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Pardon?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Sorry, I didn't seem to understand you there."

"Na-Ru-To U-Zu-Ma-Ki!" he repeated, putting as much pronunciation as possible in every syllable and at the same time clenching his fists, so as to not yell throughout the whole hospital.

"Geez! You don't need to yell into my face, mister! So- what were their names again?"

_It's just as always- so just stay calm, just stay calm_, he reminded himself, _So take a deep breath and ask again with a smile on your face._

"Choji Akimichi and Neji Hyuuga, my sensei said they would be critically wounded. I know you hate me like nearly everybody else in this village, but I do not have any damn moment to waste if they really could die. And if you really hate me, you could get rid of me by just telling me where they are."

The woman looked him over, skeptical. Naruto could nearly see her thinking about what to reply to that blunt statement. It did not fit the usual Naruto-clown.

"Down the hallway and on the left is the Akimichi-boy. The Hyuuga should be either on the next room or on the right hand side."

"Thank you!" Naruto followed the description and soon found Shikamaru sitting in front of the room to the left, Temari of the Sand next to him, giving said person a long stare. He could not help but feel weird. Something did not seem to be 'normal'.

It took him a moment to notice that it was Shikamaru's face –or to be more exact, what was in his eyes. Tears.

"Shikamaru." Naruto spoke quietly, Mister Troublesome looked up and quickly wiped the tears away. Naruto decided to do not speak about these tears. Not that he would deny them, but did somebody die? Who? Choji? Neji? Both?

Shikamaru seemed to notice his worry, but before he could say something Temari did.

"Both Choji and Neji, are still in critical condition. Tsunade-sama did her best, but we don't know if it will be enough. That Kiba and his noisy pet are nearly fine again, thanks to Shizune and my brother. Lee will be fine in no time- after his intoxication," which just got a weird look from Naruto, but Temari continued, "And as for your smart cookie, he just got a broken finger- so how are you?"

"Wait, what are you even doing here?" replied Naruto. Totally ignoring her question.

"She and her brothers were the reinforcement troops from Suna. Without them we would have some more people in these rooms and-"

He stopped. One of the red lights above the doors was turned off and all three of them looked to the left room. The door slowly opened and Tsunade walked out, followed by three other medic-nins. All of them with tired expressions on their faces. As she looked up, her experienced eyes looked them over to find any more wounds, her hemophobia would just have to deal.

After realizing that they were fine, a smile appeared on her face, reminding her why they were here themselves.

"He will be fine."

These four words seemed to be a miracle for Shikamaru. He nodded in relief and sent a silent prayer to Kami to thank him. It was one of these good messages he wished for and actually received. Naruto felt relieved to hear that at least Choji would be back soon.

"I will check on Neji; you should start with your report Shikamaru and Naruto, did you get checked?"

"I feel fine, Obaa-san." Naruto replied but quickly stepped away to get as much distant as possible between him and those evil eyes.

"Just get it done!" she hurried in the other room and the other medic-nins followed, with a little gap between them, and shot angry looks at Naruto.

After the door closed, Shikamaru mumbled a "Hai" and put his hands in his face. After some seconds of silence he just added a little "Troublesome" to it and looked half-happy, and half-crying at them.

"Naruto, you really should get a checkup. I don't want you to overstress your body, or sit here if you are poisoned, or if you have any further injuries. Make sure Sasuke gets a checkup as well," he advised like a chunin normally would do.

"Sasuke." Naruto looked at Shikamaru with concern in his eyes "I could not stop him... I am sorry," he said.

Shikamaru sat there in silent for some seconds, before he shook his head.

"Can't help it. We should have done better…"

Naruto just nodded and put Sasuke's headband next to Shikamaru. He went back down the hallway. Shikamaru was right… and wrong. They did their best, but him? Naruto could not do his job right- it was his fault, not theirs!

He left the hospital, leaving a confused blond medic at the reception. As he walked through the village, he felt the villager's hate directed at him. It was like they already heard about his latest mission and could not forgive him for not 'saving' the last Uchiha. So he just jumped over the rooftops, fleeing those hatred-filled eyes.

He got home and just threw himself into the bed- wanting to flee from this world… or was it really the world?

"**You are pathetic."**

Naruto opened his eyes and saw a gigantic fox, who was sitting behind a huge gate in the middle of a sewer. They locked eyes with each other and just stood there, thinking about, what happened in their fight with Sasuke and his juin.

"**The seal broke partly. You could have killed us both, you know that brat?**" Kyuubi yelled.

"That explains your gate." Naruto replied calmly as he inspected the old, rusty gate, which was wide enough open for him to step inside.

"**IS** **THIS ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY? WHAT DO YOU EVEN THINK, WHO YOU ARE SPEAKING WITH? YOU ARE BARELY AN INSECT TO ME! AN INSECT THAT I HATE WITH ALL MY HEART! YOU-"**

"Cut it, please." Naruto said quietly. If it would not be for Kyuubi's sensitive ears, he would not have heard it. But the demand did not make him shut up. It was the "please." He never heard that from Naruto before, or even from any other human being. It was always like "Holy! Run for your lives!" or "A monster!" or his favorite "How much sake did I drink again?" But the word "please?" What was the meaning of this?

"I don't want to fight with you. As I fought Sasuke, I felt your feelings. They were as human as everyone else. You aren't really a demon with all your heart, are you?"

For once in his whole life- he was stunned. Left without words in front of a thirteen-old! Barely a kit and he, Kyuubi no Yoko, did not know what to reply at all. All his arguments were just gone, after looking in his pure blue eyes.

He noticed his feelings? Everybody else denied that he even had '_feelings_' till now. Everybody else would run away from him. Everybody else would just say he was more evil and heinous than it was possible without further proof.

In the distant they could hear water dropping down from the ceiling. It seemed like the time stopped. Then Kyuubi no Yoko smiled. He didn't smirked or did one of these fake smiles Naruto carried through Konoha nearly every single day.

He just, well, smiled.

"**So, what do you want, kit. You aren't here for any chakra or a kekkei genkai. And you aren't here for any of my **_**specialties.**_" he said while sitting down in his cage.

Thousand questions shot through Naruto's head, but he ignored them and sat down as well.

"I need some advice… Kyuubi-san," Naruto said watching him closely.

The same night, Neji survived his shot in the chest, and Tsunade said he would be better in at least two weeks- same for Choji. Afterwards she sent Sakura, her new apprentice to Naruto to get him to her office in the Hokage-tower. But he already was there.

He handed over two scrolls, one for her, the other one for Sakura, so she would know that he felt sorry for not bringing Sasuke back like he promised, but he would try again.

He bowed before her and requested a training journey. He wanted to leave, but stay a Konoha-shinobi for now. He needed time to think about what happened- alone. Not with any of this villagers close by. And not with any Anbu, Jiraiya, or Kakashi watching over him.

He said he would still leave either way- even as nuke-nin if he had to.

Before dawn Naruto Uzumaki left Konoha with the promise to come back…

YEAH! How was it? It's my first all-English story… so:

PLEASE! Tell me how it was, please!

Thank you!

PS My mother tongue is German… so… there could be a lot of writing mistakes, I don't have a beta-reader. ^^° Help is appreciated.

PPS I'm not sure with the title yet… If you guys have any ideas, I would love to read them ^^


	2. The Well Every Month Thing

**Chapter 1: The Well… Every Month Thing**

**Konoha, Hokage Tower, about eight years later.**

Tsunade didn't know what to do any more. Most likely she would rather just take out a bottle of sake and drink herself unconscious then do all that paper work. Why was she the Hokage of Konoha again? Ah, yes... Because of that baka, Naruto, who didn't even bother to stay in said village.

With a sigh she put down another form and looked over all the piles of work. There were mission and hospital reports to look through, the letters of the other kages, who could not come up with the place of the chunin exam, other reports from the ANBU, and last but not least, a whole bunch of other troublesome papers.

Long story short- it was hell on earth... worse than her bad luck in gambling...

With another defeated sigh she grabbed the next paper - a village close to Kusagakure was complaining about attacks... again. Tsunade was close to tearing that form into shreds.

Did these villages made fun of them? That was the umpteenth case of attacks in the same area. She had already sent countless teams down there, just to read in the mission reports that everything was totally fine and that they did not find any bandits - at all! Why did these villages keep complaining if nothing was wrong? Were they bored? Was it some kind of joke? If it was, it also was a pretty long and annoying one. Who would have the patience to send these forms after almost ten years?

Time and again, some ninjas still got ambushed on their way back home by Oto-nins. Konoha's shinobi could not recover properly form their fight against Orochimaru some years ago. Sure, Suna and Konoha worked together, but they didn't live just down the street from each other.

They lost about forty shinobi per year because of these ambushes. She still remembered Ino, Shikamaru and Choji running into her office with a wounded Asuma last month. Tsunade was able to prolong his life for half an hour, to get at least his wife Kurenai, his nephew Konohamaru, and daughter Kemuri into her office to see him. It was a sad good bye. She had cried herself by seeing the despondent and mournful faces… while standing there… helpless. There were times like these, when her hemophobia took over again – and she could not help but shake fearfully…

Asuma Sarutobi had died in her office.

Saying he was going to visit his old man, he had closed his eyes.

Kurenai had stayed by his side until the funeral, causing everybody to worry about her and the unborn child. In the end Shizune had to give her some medicine to make her sleep or she would not have left his gravestone.

Kerumi had been shocked about the loss of her father and ran out crying. Shikamaru had gone after the girl to comfort his goddaughter. Konohamaru just went off training, followed by Ino and Choji. Tsunade did not know how they trained, but she had to send two teams to the training grounds to repair it… or at least they tried to.

With a last angry glare, she put that form down for now. Tsunade had enough of this. They already sent a small ANBU team there without results. Now she would send at least three of these teams and if they could not bring back any results, she would think about declining Konoha's service to these villages.

Tsunade was just about to get her sake out and take a little break, when her secretary Shizune burst into her office.

"News from Kumogakure- their jinchuriki of the Nibi, Yugito Nii was kidnapped!" she shouted out. "WHAT?" Tsunade yelled, while slamming her hand on the desk and causing the bottle of sake to roll down and break in pieces. The alcoholic drink was spilled over the floor, with a livid Tsunade watching it. Why was it always her?

"You weren't drinking while working, were you, Tsunade-san?" Shizune asked with a fake smile, that the hokage chose to ignore… for now.

"How did this happen? All five nations sent guards to stop Akatsuki, after what happened in Iwa!"

Six years ago, the Tsuchikage Oonoki called a Five-Kage-Summit to get them to work together against Akatsuki. It was a very odd meeting. Nobody had expected that stubborn, old grandpa to ask them to work with _any_ of them, let alone together. But that changed when Iwa's jinchuriki had been kidnapped. Oonoki was… _pissed,_ to put it simply. He wanted to see Akatsuki on their knees. He hated them more than the Fourth Hokage.

After a long and tiring discussion (and several destroyed desks from the Raikage and Tsunade herself), they had decided to share all information concerning Akatsuki with every other hidden village- whether they were friends or enemies. Furthermore they would send guards to Suna, Kumo, Konoha, and Taki to secure the jinchuriki.

That was a huge step forward, but also a depressing one.

Two bijus were already gone and one - being Naruto – unable to find. But fortunately Jiraiya could use his connection to his toad summons. They reversed summon him back and forth - pissing him greatly off – but discovered the Gaki was still fine.

The other kages wanted him back in Konoha at once, but his training journey was signed for at least ten years, in which he could travel throughout the world, without being a nuke-nin. Even thought they put a high pressure on Tsunade, they couldn't do anything _legally._

During these last six years, they had improved all the security around the villages, but it didn't help much. Four more jinchuriki got kidnapped, the last being Yugito.

"Gai's reports says they were using the sewers to cover their moves. And they got some seals with blocked Neji's view. The whole village tried to stop them, but failed… Killer Bee was said to be livid. He tried to follow them, but the Raikage could stop him in time." Shizune read from the paper in her hand.

"Only three more…" Tsunade turned to her window and stood up. It was January, the snow covered the roofs, which shinobi didn't use as street-replacement. "We do need him back here. With the Nibi gone, the other villages will put more pressure on us and…"

"But Tsunade-sama! You do remember the council and how everybody treated Naruto here? They can't do anything to us and I don't think he wants to ever come back-"

"But he brought me back- so I should have the right to call him home." she replied with a smirk. "And moreover…" Tsunade looked at the calendar on her desk, smirking "…it's almost time for his annual visit. Even though, he thinks I didn't notice."

Shizune just looked at her with a weird look on her face. Naruto was in Konoha? _Annual… Every year?_

**In a little village between Kusa and Konoha, about a day earlier**

There are a lot ways to wake somebody up. First- Open the curtains and let the sun defeat every sleepy head. Second- Let ten alarms go off at once. Third- Empty a bucket with cold water over him. Fourth- Burn some paper and scream as loud as you can "The house is on fire."

Nice possibilities, aren't they? But I don't think the victim of the pranks would like it… or victims in our case.

"AARRGGHHHHHHHH!"

Naruto sat on his bed, his sword Akaimé ready to strike down any enemies that could harm him or his family. He heard somebody cursing next door and some footsteps in the hallway. As fast as he could he stood up and ran to the source of the scream.

He wished he hadn't.

As he reached the room of his 'little sister' who still was shoting some terrified screams into the night, he bumped into Ryouta. So, as they entered the room, they nearly fell down and colored the floor red with both their swords drawn. (1)

Ryouta Senso was a 23-year-old Kenjutsu master from Tetsu no Kuni (Iron Country). He wanted to be a samurai, but was the worst compared with his five brothers. Eager to impress everybody and become stronger than his brothers all together, he left his home only with his sword Midori Mimi accompanying him and ten years ago, met Naruto. They trained together and soon Ryouta learned jutsus and other shinobi techniques from Naruto.

They looked confused through the room, only seeing the scared girl on the bed in the, otherwise empty room. Still on guard, they untangled themselves and carefully examined the room.

But everything seemed fine… if somebody ignored the still cursing voice on the end of the hallway. Just then, Natsuki realized her two 'brothers' in the door. Tears went down her frightened face.

Natsuki Yokusei, an eleven-year-old girl was the only survivor of a village near Oto. She was about three years old when shinobi attacked her village to get somebody with the Hontoni kekkei genkai. Somehow her mom was able to hide her from the attackers and as Naruto and Ryouta saw the village, they took her in.

"I am bleeding. Why am I bleeding, nii-san?" she asked, sobbig.

The two males looked at the red bedcover in front of her sister, both having the exact same thought in mind: "_Shit, how do I get out of this?"_

Just in that moment a third male appeared behind the two who wished they hadn't stood up. Even thought he looked quiet feminine with his long red hair, he was a guy… or to be more exact Shinobu also known as Kyuubi no Yoko.

Upon leaving Konoha, Kyuubi and Naruto had learned not to fight each other. They started to work together and look into the seal, to limit the damage that was made by fighting Sasuke. Naruto discovered pretty fast that Kyuubi used the same language Tayuya did. After they found Natsuki, they made a deal- Naruto needed a teacher and babysitter, while Kyuubi wanted out of the seal.

That ended, after a long argument, several rules, training jutsus, Naruto's sword Akaimé, with a chakra-body for the fox.

"What the f*ck is going on? Can nobody get a f*ck*ng good night sleep?" He looked from the two brothers to the still crying girl. Upon seeing the blood, he smirked evilly and laid his hands on Naruto's and Ryouta's shoulder.

"Have fun giving the flower and bee talk to the girl. I am going back in bed."

But before he could two strong hands grabbed hold of his shirt, the two overwhelmed humans looked at each other, ignoring the sobbing girl and tried to find any arguments to get out of… _that_.

"I am an orphan without parents who could explain it to me." Said Naruto imaginary slapping himself as Natsuki cried even louder.

"And you're speaking with a guy who grew up with a sadistic father and five brothers who do not even know how to read. The first girl I ever met was my grandma… and I hate relationships."

Both looked to Kyuubi thinking about giving him the job and just disappear for a week. Neither of them had thought of… well… _that_ as they took her in. The years just went by and… they kind of forgot that whole _'every month thing'_.

"You want me to do it? You know, I won't stop until everything is said… at least not till the orgas-"

Before he could finish his sentence two hands covered his mouth and Akaimé as well as Midori Mimi were threateningly close to his throat. Two fake smiles looked at him. With unsaid words flooding their whole gestures.

The message was clear.

"Nii-san?" Natsuki's voice brought them back into her room and reminded her of her… well… problem. She still was terrified. Who wouldn't be? There she woke up and saw all that blood coming out of her. Did she hurt herself in sleep? Or did she have any sickness making her bleed until she died?

The last time she saw blood, they were attacked by two weird people wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them. Afterwards her Naruto-nii was unconscious for a week, Ryouta-nii for three. Shinobu-ji had to take care of them and he yelled all the time being in the worst mood ever.

"Well… you see Natsuki-chan… there is nothing wrong with you… I think." Naruto said putting Akaimé down.

"You *sob* think?" She still had tears running down her face, but less than before.

"Yeah… This is pretty much normal." That was one of the worst answers he could have given. Before Naruto could even notice his mistake, she started to cry again- full force.

"But if it's normal *sob* how come you *sob* don't bleed down there."

All three males looked at each other Kyuubi having a smirk under the hands, Ryouta having a dull expression coloring his face, and Naruto being the stunned one. What should they do? They were all guys and… well… they couldn't ask any of the girls in this village to come over and explain Natsuki her… condition. They lived in the village from time and again without anybody noticing them and they didn't want to be noticed.

"Well, do you have trouble with leaving earlier this year for visiting your dad?" Ryouta finally asked Naruto.

**Konoha, Street to the hospital, today**

Shizune was on her way to the hospital caring a bunch of papers in her arms. They still needed to be signed by some medic-nin.

She just finished her little talk with Tsunade. She couldn't believe it! Naruto was here every year in Konoha? He came in the evening of the 24th of January

and left two days later… _annually_. Why did Tsunade never tell her? Why was it that he came always the same time? And why did nobody know?

Or more importantly- _why did he want nobody to know?_

The more she thought about it, the more confused she got. Something was off. Something told her, that this time was very precious to him, but she couldn't remember.

Suddenly somebody grabbed her kimono. She stopped and looked down.

There was a little girl, probably ten or eleven years old. She frightened hold onto her kimono with the other hand holding a little fox. She had red cheeks, like she cried the whole day, giving them the same color as her hair. Her hazel eyes looked her over, like a student… or a patient?

"Hey there," Shizune said, puzzled. It was not every day that a little girl stopped her on her way to work. "Did you lose your parents?"

She eagerly shook her head "No. They're are gone already."

"Gone?" Shizune blinked in confusion.

"That's what nii-san said. And he said I should ask you about…" Her voice grew silent, like she was afraid of her, the little fox just looked up and seemed to… smile? Shizune imaginary slapped herself- foxes didn't smile!

"What are you supposed to ask me?" She asked kneeing down to the girl.

"Why do I bleed?"

Shizune was stunned. She could hear some kids playing in the distance, but other than that everything was silent. Well, yeah. She was medic-nin, but the little girl couldn't know that, could she? And here she was asking a stranger about her period. Shizune tried to detect a genjutsu, but there was none. Was this a prank?

"Well, do you know?"

She watched the little girl in front of her. Shizune was a medic-nin, so she should get the job done.

"Yes… But that's a very private topic for women… Do you want to sit down with me on one of the park benches?" Shizune asked her and after some moments of thinking the little girl just nodded, while the fox just closed his eyes to catch some sleep.

**Konoha, Roofs near the hospital**

"I told you, it will work. And it's the perfect revenge for that fox," Ryouta said while watching the scene down on the street.

"You know, he can hear you." Naruto just replied as he watched the Hokage Monument. All the time looking emotionless to any passing shinobi, who just saw some other shinobi. Every time they came to Konoha, Naruto, Ryouta, and Kyuubi used some _Demon Art: Henge no Jutsu_ to cover their moves. While Kyuubi mostly walked through the village as a little fox, Naruto and Ryouta used appearances of shinobi who were not in the village at the time.

Since Akatsuki discovered that Naruto was traveling with some other people, they used these kind of jutsus to hide. Natsuki was still training the _Demon Arts_ so they decided to just 'babysit' her, till she got it done perfectly.

As for now Ryouta had the appearance of a jonin named Genma, while Naruto used Asuma's. Somebody could still discover their _Henge_ if they didn't act like the person, but that was better than trying to hide their powers and fail… again.

"He wouldn't do anything against it now… would he?" Ryouta turned to see Naruto blowing fake smoke in the air. He played his act perfectly. Everything he needed to imitate a person was some of their chakra and their name. If anybody then spoke with him, he just went along with it.

Ryouta had more trouble with that. He didn't really like talkative people. He couldn't take it long and would look for an excuse to just leave… most of the time saying the wrong thing and giving his identity away.

"Wanna go and grab something to eat?" Naruto just asked as he saw a cloud in the shape of a ramen bowl fly by.

"Sure."

With that he left his cover and went to Naruto just to stop moving without willing to. Shocked he looked down to see… something reaching into his shadow? The same was for Naruto.

"Kagemane no Jutsu success." Said a voice behind him. Ryouta tried to turn around, but couldn't. Kagemane no Jutsu? That was a jutsu from the Nara Clan, wasn't it?

"Hi Shikamaru. How are things going?" Naruto replied in a happy, but serious voice.

"Stop that act. Whoever you two are, you are not Asuma-sensei or Genma." The now exposed Shikamaru stated icy. He seemed to be deadly sure, why else would he have caught them in that jutsu of his?

"How do you know?" Naruto just asked, like they would talk about the weather. Only Ryouta noticed the little surprise in his voice.

"Asuma-sensei died three and a half weeks ago in the Hokage-tower. Genma was at his funeral as well. So whoever you are, you cannot be them."

"I see." Narutos said before canceling Shikamaru's jutsu by sending him back with his wind-chakra. The (now) jonin was send back, flying right into one of the water tanks at the hospital, causing several civilians to look up to the roofs and get hit by the 'rain'.

"That was a little too much I think." He scratched his cheek, while watching the unconscious Shikamaru.

"We should leave, before we get haunted down by some ANBU. And you should probably change that appearance of yours." Ryouta stated with one of his rare smirks.

"Sure." A cloud of smoke appeared and as it left, it revealed another shinobi Konoha's. "So, as for now I am Tekuno Kanden. Nice to meet you."

Ryouta just shook his head.

* * *

><p>As for Ryouta- he does not need to change his appearance, because he expects Shikamaru to be out for the rest of the day… if not longer.<p>

Special Thanks to 'The Phoenix is Immortal' who read the chapter beta ^^ Arigato!

I hope you enjoyed reading it ^^

Greetings, Penny

(1) They nearly cut themselves in the rush.


	3. Shino's Crazy Team

**AN: **Naruto is in the Henge of Tekuno and Ryouta in the Henge of Genma.

**Chapter 2: Shino's... Crazy Team**

**Konoha, Park**

Shizune just finished giving the 'talk' to the little girl and left her time to think things through. To pass the time faster, she read the files from the Hokage Tower about hospital fees and injuries from some shinobi.

She didn't know a lot about the girl. As Shizune asked what her name was, the kid looked, to put it simply, anxious. From one moment to the other, she looked like a cornered animal and pressed the little fox with such a force that he growled. The medic-nin had decided not to press the issue for now. She was too afraid of what people could do... pretty crazy things- especially teenagers.

"That is so mean."

The medic-nin looked, surprised, at her little companion: "Pardon?"

"I mean onii-san and nii-san don't have these kinds of problems, not even Fluffy!" The little fox growled deeply. "But why do I have this… this… well… annoying thing!"

She stood up, an angry expression on her face, and started to pace around. That little girl seemed more livid than Tsunade after finding Jiraiya doing his research. She had trouble just sitting there. Heck, she didn't even blame the passengers when they shrunk back in fear, whether they were civilians or shinobi.

"You are a girl. As long as you can't develop a new technique to change your gender, you have to deal with these kinds of things. Regardless of how annoying they seem." She smiled at the girl's blush. Well, at least she seemed to calm down way _faster_ than Tsunade.

"I guess…"

**Konoha, Hospital**

Shino didn't change a lot during the past eight years. He was still... well Shino. The typical you-never-see-my-face-guy. He made chunin a year after the invasion of Suna and Oto and was promoted to jonin two years back. Now- at the age of twenty-one he was the sensei of three little _brats_.

Why? He couldn't really remember. Kiba wanted all of them, the earlier Team 10, to have something in common after they made jonin. He agreed without an second thought. The idea seemed nice... all those months ago...

Hinata's cell was pretty cute and they were a balanced team. None were too loud or fought if they didn't need to. No problem.

Kiba's team was a really energetic pack and they didn't think too much before attacking but were still no real problem, they would learn patience.

But his genin team? His genin team was a pain. Did he annoy Kami too much? Was this any kind of revenge? He couldn't remember what he did wrong. Heck! Why had it to behave to be him?

First there was that little always-having-energy boy in his cell, who spoke more than Ino per day. His name? Haru Yamagawa, also known as The Most Talkative Person on Earth. He wouldn't shut up! And if he did, he couldn't stop his feet from moving or his hands. It was like the word '_tired'_ didn't exist for him. He came from a civillian family and was the first person to become a shinobi since his great-grandfather. Although he was the dead-last of the year...

Then he had a quiet little boy called Hashi, who was named after the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju. Normally, he wouldn't have any problems with quiet people; he would have liked the boy! He was smart and strong and didn't do anything that would cause much trouble... but he... well... looked daggers at everybody he observed... And he observed Shino a lot, so he couldn't really ignore the feeling of danger coming from the kid. That Hashi was also a member of Konoha's Ne (Root) didn't help at all. But Tsunade wanted to integrate all Root-members to the normal shinobi system to stop the real organization from existing... Oh, Kami!

And at last there was the little girl. She was very little and looked more like an eight-year-old than a teenager who already made genin. Her name was Hana. Hana Himitsu. She was an orphan since her mother died during the invasion of Suna and Oto. She still couldn't forgive those villages for killing her. But other than that she was a really nice person... if you ignored her pranks, loud screaming voice, and the fact that she disliked insects.

Well, Kami hated him, didn't he?

And worst of all, even though he had a _nice _little team, two good friends, one awesome sensei, and lots of other precious people... nobody seemed to remember his birthday... again.

He sighed and ignored the looks his team was giving him.

"You know, you could help your poor genin with finishing this stupid mission instead of just standing there, sensei," Haru said annoyed.

Well, at least Shino had his fun watching his team doing all these damn D-missions... like now. They had to do the whole laundry of the hospital and hang it up on the roof. Ino had shown them everything before she started checking on her patients.

"I could, but its more fun watching you from here," he just replied, smiling, not that any of the little shinobi could see it under his coat.

"Let's go and get these bedsheets hung up outside. I need some fresh air, guys," Hana said after working quietly for five minutes. Shino couldn't blame her. They started this mission about two hours ago. It was just normal to want to go outside. The laundry room didn't even had a window and it was really hot in here.

"Yup. Sounds more than welcome to me." Haru stood up and stretched his arms while Hashi just turned to Shino and gave him the _look_.

"Is this all right, sensei?"

Shino just nodded and fled out of the room. On his first day with his team he learned never leave two of them alone... not yet at least. In the end he would just receive one thing: chaos. Add Haru and Hana together; the result would be a lot of pranks, which you didn't want to see. Add Haru and Hashi together and you would get two boys fighting to the death... so that wouldn't work either. And Hashi with the girl? He tried... well _tried_ was really a good word to describe his action. She tried to speak with the young Root member, but he ignored her while reading a book. That was when she got ticked and threw a bunch of shuriken at him.

Long story short, he couldn't leave two of them alone and as sensei he wasn't allowed to leave one alone. So they would traveled together till two or at least one would be able to behave.

All his little genin followed him with basket full of laundry. They couldn't see the carpet or stairs in front of them because of their load, so he had to warn them. But none of them were prepared for what they saw on the roof, where they were supposed to hang up the laundry.

Shino stopped moving at the door as he saw the little lake on the roof and the clear blue sky, causing Haru to run into him and mutter something he ignored. His shinobi senses kicked in at once. Before any of his students could ask what was going on, his bugs were spreading out over the area looking for any possible danger.

But he found none. Only a destroyed water tank and... wait... he knew this chakra!

"Stay here and be ready to leave at a moments notice," he told the teenagers.

They just nodded while he walked around the door to the water tanks. He ignored the soaked laundry that they had hung up before,and carefully closed the distance to the unconscious shinobi with the green vest.

As he recognized Shikamaru, he checked his vitals as fast and as well as a non-medic shinobi could. With a sigh, he picked him up and went back to his team, but not without checking the roof again.

"Hang the laundry up. Afterward, you are to go down to the reception if I am not back by then. Got it?"Haru and Hana just nodded anxiously, and Hashi used his _look_ while nodding slowly.

"You are not to fight each other or prank anybody if you don't want to weed the yard of Hoshiwa-san again," he said, reminding the kids of their first mission...

He left the roof to find Ino. Shikamaru wouldn't knock himself out, he was a damn jonin. And if he just wanted more free time, he wouldn't do it on the roof of the hospital. So, what was going on?

While running down the stairs, he decided that he would not like his twenty-first birthday.

**Konoha, Dango-Store**

That was just great! First, Natsuki-chan got her period and none of her big _brothers_ were able to really explain it to her without stuttering around and making her cry even more.

Second, they had to leave earlier for Konoha this year and he could not stand it in here. After all, there was a reason why he left this village.

Third, they nearly got caught by Shikamaru and he had to knock him out.

Fourth, because of that Ryouta made him go to Dango-Store instead of Ichiraku, with the argument that they "didn't get any more unwanted attention".

And the last and the most annoying reason of all: Konoha's Snake Mistress, Anko Mitarashi, was sitting next to them... and she seemed to be a little _stressed_.

"So, sweetheart. Don't tell me, you like her." Said kunoichi spoke in a voice, an I-have-already-drunk-ten-bottles-of-sake-but-that-won't-knock-me-out voice, while leaning on Naruto.

"Well, who do you mean?" he replied, trying to ignore the extra weight on his shoulder and eat his dango at a normal speed.

"Who do I mean?" she repeated and poured her drink into the next cup. "There is only one cute kunoichi for you, isn't there? Under the-"

Whatever she wanted to say was stopped as Kakashi burst into Dango-Store and yelled her name.

"Whatcha want, Scarecrow-teme?"

Kakashi ignored her question and smelled at the bottle. Relived that it was a non-alcoholic drink he looked at Ryouta. "You could have stopped her, you know, Genma? Even if it's no sake..." (1)

Ryouta just held his hands up in an act of defense. "I just came in myself."

"Sorry." Kakashi sighed, "I am just a little stressed. I shouldn't blame it on you." He turned to the Snake Mistress, completely ignoring Naruto with his Henge. "Come on. That was enough crying and swearing and who-knows-what-else time for you. I don't want you to make a clown of yourself. We still have our jobs to do, you know?"

"Like you reading your porn? Or what?" she asked.

"Anko-chan, please."

"No! Don't Anko-chan me! What should I think, when you just keep reading these kind of books? Am I not enough for you or what?"

There was an awkward silence in the whole store and Ryouta leaned towards Naruto. "Okay, now it's official," he whispered as silently as possible without being noticed by any other person than Naruto. "The whole village is insane and I won't say anything against Ichiraku next time, but now- let's just get out of here!"

Naruto couldn't help but smile at Ryouta's statement. He placed the money for their food on the corner and they left silently, while Kakashi tried to calm Anko down.

**Konoha, Street**

After Natsuki's _talk_ with Shizune, she started to question her about Konoha's ninja system. Shizune noticed her interest in this topic pretty quickly and started to explain to her the shinobi day-life, while the girl helped her to carry all the papers to the hospital. Even the little fox carried some of the papers... but he seemed to be angry about it...

"...So, the ANBUs are like the personal shinobi and the Hokage-"

"The Hokage is the strongest person in Konohagakure, isn't he?" Natsuki proudly said.

"Well, half-right." Shizune couldn't help, but smile about the confused look the girl was giving her. "Tsunade-sama, our Hokage is a woman."

"Well, okay. But the Yondaime was way stronger than her, wasn't he?" The fox growled deeply, but the girl ignored it.

"And how come, you think Tsunade-sama is weaker?"

"Well, she wouldn't be able to seal a bijû away, would she?" Shizune stopped walking at once, but the little girl didn't notice. "Futhermore, I don't think, she could- Ah! Fluffy!"

That little fox jumped up to her and started to lick her face, causing all the papers to fly down and cover the street.

"That wasn't nice, ya know?" She scowled him; Shizune just laughed.

One second ago she was afraid. Everybody though Kyuubi was killed by the Yondaime, but the girl knew about the sealing! She thought about the girl being a spy; how else could she have found out about the sealing? But then, as that little animal jumped up, she saw it coming. Every shinobi near chunin level could have caught him or at least dodged that little furball, but she didn't.

In the next moment Shizune though about how stupid she was. Did she have paranoia? That was just a little girl!

"Fluffy! You should have jumped on her, not me," the little girl growled. "And you could stop laughing, ya know?"

"Sorry," she replied and helped picking up all papers, while the girl tried to calm the fox down with her left hand and collect the sheets with her right hand.

Shizune watched her movements. They were smooth. To smooth for a kid her age and she didn't even visit the Academy. Was she really that paranoid?

"So, why do you think, the Yondaime sealed Kyuubi away? It's said he killed it." Natsuki looked up - puzzled.

"Killed?" Shizune couldn't put her finger on what it was, but the girl seemed to be hideing something. "Well, wouldn't that be stupid? He was a seal master. And killing Kyuubi would have weakend Konoha. They would miss a jinchuriki."

"And how come you know these worlds like bijû?" Shizune continued to question.

"That? Oh, simple. Onii-san's friends with Gaara-kun. The Kazekage, ya know? And once they spoke about how they are nine bijûs now and how they got sealed into humans."

They reached the hospital and were greeted by a blond medic-nin from the reception desk. Shizune just waved back and noticed then the three genin that sat on one of the waiting benches and seemed... bored.

"Hey there, aren't you here for the laundry-mission?" she asked them while Natsuki let the fox down again and told him something about being a good boy... making him growl.

The little black haired boy and the girl looked up at once, while the other genin just continued to read his book, called _The Meaning of the Smile._

"Well, we would love to, but we aren't allowed to till sensei gets back," the boy not reading anything answered.

"What do you mean?" she asked again.

"Well, apparently somebody got knocked out on the roof of the hospital. What apparently isn't supposed to happen in a village with security 24-7 and that just apparently means that sensei won't let us either finish the mission ,or abandon it and go home," Hana replied half-bored, half-annoyed. This was fourth time this day he had to explain to a curious passenger.

She didn't really expected a worried answer or similar. Until now, she had only told civilians, nobody from the hospital.

"What?" Shizune yelled. Fluffy jumped up and all people in sight turned to look at her at once. "When was it? Where is the person? Is he injured? Who is it?"

The genin shrinked back in fear, even Hashi though it was good to have some distance between him and that... creepy woman.

"Well... I don't know. Sensei brought that guy downstairs, you should ask him," Hana replied, scared.

Shizune gave her papers to the little girl. Who could have attacked somebody in Konoha? What happened?

"Bring these to the third floor, room 309. I will be back in about five minutes." With that Shizune left, leaving a eleven-year-old girl to her own devices... in a hospital, with about 60 different rooms... in every of its seven floors.

**Konoha, Hospital, Room 418**

"So, he is fine?" Shino asked a tired Ino.

"Well, we are scheduled for a mission in three days. And I don't think we have to cancel that one... He is just unconscious... I hope." She sat down on the bed next to him.

During the last eight years Ino and Sakura had continued their medical studies. Now they weren't any worse than Tsunade herself. It was even said that Sakura surpassed her.

Ino on the other hand wasn't as good as Sakura with the medical stuff, but to balance that, she still did a lot of field missions with Shikamaru and Choji.

"Should I get Sakura for you? Or Shizune?" Shino just asked, but Ino shook her head.

"Do you know what happened?"

Right as he wanted to decline, the door burst open and Shizune jumped into the room, a shocked expression on her face. "What happened?"

"Shizune-senpai!" Ino jumped up from the bed while the medic-nin looked Shikamaru over. She looked to Shino before explaining. "Well, somebody seemed to have thrown Shikamaru into the water tank on the roof. We don't really know anything more than that."

"Didn't you wake him up? You should have asked him what happened," Shizune replied.

"Well, I just finished the check-up, you know?" Ino said annoyed. "I was getting to that, but I didn't want him to-"

She was interrupted by Shizune's chakra, which was channeled into Shikamaru's body. But instead of waking up, he just muttered something that sounded like troublesome and hugged his pillow.

"May I?" Ino asked sweetly... too sweetly. Shino took some paces backwards, he didn't want to be too close to the... following.

"Sure." Shizune replied and Shikamaru's fate was decided...

_Poor guy._.. Shino thought before trying to cover his ears.

(1) Her voice sounds drunk, but that does not mean, she is. She just wants to act weird... and being drunk is the perfeect excuse...

So, THANKS for reading ^.^

And also a big Thank you for beta reading the chapter, The Phoenix is Immortal! Danke!

I hoped you liked it! Please review and tell me if I got anything wrong. -Penny


	4. Being Lost

**Chapter 3: Being Lost**

**Konoha, Hospital, Entrance**

Natsuki's eyes traveled from the papers in her hands to Kyuubi to the door the medic-nin run through. Her nii-sans just told her to ask that woman about her bloody pants. She was supposed to meet up with them, right after her questions were answered… But she forgot where. And to make matters worse, she kind of got a mission from that nice lady, which she should at least complete after Natsuki wasted her morning.

"Do you know where that room is? 309, ya know?" She asked the still scared genin. Surprisingly, the boy with the book answered… in a creepy voice…

"Go to the third floor, and then turn right, after you pass room 341 you take the hallway to the left. It's the fifth room on the right."

Not only Natsuki stared blankly at him. His other two teammates had a _'What the bloody hell'_ look on their face as well and even Fluffy eyed him weird… It sounded like he studied the hospital over years.

"Ehm… Can you draw me a map or something? I am like… pretty bad with directions. And where are these stairs?"

Before any of the genins could answer- screaming and yelling erupted from the fourth floor. Everybody in the hallway covered their ears. But still they could make out something about being 'lazy' and 'better explaining things' as well as some terrifying cries of horror…

The genin looked at each other and nodded before changing their minds. The boys took her arms, while the girl took hold of Fluffy, who tried desperately to cover his sensitive ears and they run down the hallway.

"If Sensei asked, Shizune-sama asked us to escort you upstairs, okay?" The boy to her right asked, while the one on her left smiled… creepy…

She just nodded and hoped her nii-sans would just pick her up soon!

**Konoha, Hospital, Room 418**

Shikamaru sat in the corner of the room, farthest away from a certain angry blonde. She had yelled at him for whole four minutes and 37 seconds without stopping. He already considered on trying to escape… if it wouldn't annoy her even more.

But finally- four minutes and 39 seconds sharp, she took a breath. And Shikamaru used this one. He didn't know if he would still live the next time she inhaled…

"I am sorry, Ino. I-"

"That's enough," Shizune cut in while stepping forward, Shino stood behind the medic-nin with a safe distance between him and Ino. But for now they needed to know what was going on, the rest could wait. "What happened on the roof, Shikamaru?"

"I wanted to look how Kurenai-san was doing, but then I saw Asuma-sensei and Genma-san on the rooftops across the street." Ino looked at him…sad? Confused? He couldn't place the look in her eyes. "I caught them with my Kagemane no Jutsu… but that Asuma-guy broke it and threw me into the water tower without even touching me. It wasn't…normal."

"When was that? What were they doing?" Shizune kept questioning. There had to be a reason for a _'dead'_ person to walk around. And if somebody tried playing tricks on them, in the name of a dead shinobi who fought for his village, he would pay a _deadly price…_

"I think it was this morning… or close to noon… And they just looked down the street and said something about_ "the revenge for the fox"_ and _"grabbing something to eat"_." Shikamaru stared at the ceiling, while trying to remember the details. "Whatever Jutsu they used to disguise themselves, I couldn't break it. It was like the chakra, all the chakra for that disguise was coming from somewhere else."

"That sounds pretty weird." Ino replied dryly. Chakra from outside the body was more than just a weird thing. It wasn't right. Chakra came from the physical and mental energy of a person. And to forge it correctly you needed to balance it all the time. The chakra couldn't just _come_ from somewhere else or at least not to 100 percent.

"The revenge for the fox?" Shizune asked "You are sure he said these words?"

She on the other hand was already going through the meaning of these words. Did they mean Kyuubi? Or even Naruto? Or was it just another random person with the nickname of fox? Tsunade just told her that Naruto came home every year and she said his visit would be soon. Or was it now?

"The laundry can wait until tomorrow. Shino, can you show your genin a picture of Asuma and Genma and tell them to look for them?" They watched him nod quietly and Shizune continued "They are to not engage them, just to report back, when they see them. They shouldn't receive that much attention from foreign shinobis being only little genin"

"That shouldn't be a problem." If they go and look separated, he added in thoughts.

"Please, also report to Tsunade-sama, Shikamaru. Ino and I will have to check some antidotes and other drugs to make sure, it wasn't faked by our visitors… Just in case"

Konoha's newest smoker just blinked at her. "I was just knocked out cold. Shouldn't you give me a check up or something before sending me back to duty?"

But everybody just ignored him. Shino listened a while to the medic-nins' conversations about what herbs and drugs to check first, before they parted ways at the end of the hallway. He kept thinking about Asuma and begged to Kami that Kurenai-sensei hadn't seen him. It would confuse her just more, and she was already heartbroken.

But as he reached the reception his thoughts took a complete 180 degree turn.

_Where the h*ll, did these brats go?_

**Konoha, Training Fields, in front of the Memorial Stone**

Naruto and Ryouta were bored, bored out of their minds. Why was it that Natsuki hadn't returned by now? It was already starting to get late afternoon… Did something happen? Each of them wanted to search for her, only to be stopped of the other. They just didn't know what to say, if they were to bump into a conversation about a woman's period.

And even though they were on a Training Field, none of them wanted to train in a Hidden Village. They couldn't use all the jutsus of the persons they disguised themselves as, not to mention that they couldn't use their own moves, while using said disguise.

So they just said there and watched sky for about three hours.

"Okay, we left her alone with that fur ball today morning and the sun's going to set soon…" Ryouta started again.

It was just like throwing a coin. Every minute one of them would voice his opinions, fears, and hopes, about what could have happened to their little sister. And every time the other would try to calm down the other…

"Okay, we should really look for her."

…until the other was to scarred himself.

"And if they still speak about, you know what, we will just pass by accident and leave again" Ryouta added.

"Sounds great to me"

**Konoha, Hospital, Room 309**

"I told you, we would have to go left after we passed room 341." Hashi said in a bored voice.

"No, you didn't. You said 375!" Haru replied with an angry red face.

"What is more annoying is that these damn rooms are not even close to being in order!" Hana just added.

Natsuki looked from one genin to the next, all the time questioning their ability to survive longer than two minutes alone in a room. Kyuubi just sat next to her feet. After they got lost the third time in this hospital, he escaped Hana's grip and stayed as far away as possible from the girl who nearly hugged him to death.

Ignoring the angered team, Natsuki knocked on the door and tried to enter a moment later. But the door was locked. Turning back to the fighting teenagers, she waited for a moment of inhaling before speaking.

"Ehm, guys…?"

"You are Shino-kuns kids, aren't you?" Another voice behind them interrupted her.

They all turned around, just to see a blonde woman. Her hair was hold by two piggy tails and on her forehead was a seal in the shape of a diamond. Her bust girth was amazing and looked even greater in the gray, short kimono and a green jacket she was wearing.

Natsuki's eyes went wide. That woman looked exactly like the Fifth Hokage! But she couldn't be… could she?

"Hokage-sama!" Haru and Hana exclaimed, while Hashi just nodded respectful.

Well, so much for she couldn't be the Hokage…

"Shino is looking for you. If you don't want to get in trouble, you should hurry" Tsunade said. Haru and Hashi run already back to the stairs, but Hana looked concerned at Natsuki and the papers for a moment, but before she could say something, the Sannin interrupted her again. "It's alright, I will help her out."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama!" With that Hana hurried to catch up with her teammates.

"Ehm… this nice lady wanted me to…" Natsuki tried to explain. She didn't know what to say, she felt save with the Hokage, but she couldn't help but be scared of her in the same moment.

"It's alright, darling" she bit her thumb and put it on the door, which opened at once, before taking some of the papers from the little girl. "Just throw them on the chair. Shizune is going to order them again anyways. Will you come with me for a little walk?"

Natsuki just nodded. It wasn't wise to decline the request of a very mighty person. So, she did how she was told, took her Fluffy in her arms, and followed the Sannin. It was awkward at first. So many people just greeted her, because she went with the Hokage through the village. But all the time they just walked in silence, until they reached an old apartment complex. It was in the middle of the village, but it looked like it was empty since ages. She remembered her onii-san looking said at it, but before she could ask the woman about it, they already went inside.

"What kind of place is this?" she asked the older woman, while she hugged Fluffy closer to her chest.

"I will show you" she just answered without turning around, "Come on"

With a more awkward feeling n her belly than before in the village, she followed the Sannin towards a big door. Words like demon and monster were sprayed on it. It made her feel uneasy. A thought, small nearly unnoticeable began to develop in her mind. It was more like a question, but she couldn't shake it off. _Was this were her onii-san lived?_

"You may enter first." The Hokage said silently, but Natsuki didn't move.

"Why did you take me here?"

"Because" Tsunade kneeled down in front of the little girl, "you and your brothers and even the little Kyuubi in your arms need a home. I need to speak with one of your brothers. You will be in too much danger, when you keep traveling and there are really bad people out there that could hurt you any time, Natsuki."

With that she pushed the door open, just to reveal a clean and completely comfortable apartment, hidden behind the ugly disguise.

"I don't know if Naruto wants to live here again, but I always tried to keep it as clean as possible. But it does not have enough space for you four, when Kyuubi wants to go back to his human appearance. If you want to, you could also move into the Hokage Tower, for the time being."

Fluffy jumped out of Natsuki's arms, who was stunned speechless. Her brothers never really spoke about their past. It was weird to meet somebody who seemed to know more about them than she did herself!

Fluffy just stretched and soon stood straight in his human form in front of a totally calm Hokage. He smirked evilly, before sending his chakra out for Ryouta and Naruto to come. After all he still had to stick with the rules.

"What do you have to offer, woman?"

**Sorry, for not updating earlier! I just had to write semester test, then I was gone over the whole vacations, then I got a new sister (YAY! I am a BIG sister now! :DDD), and then I had to write the next semester tests and kind of forgot the whole story…**

**I AM TOTALLY SORRY! **

**Please don't be angry with me!**

**Greetings, Penny**


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